


In Which, Gamora and Tony Come to an Understanding

by Word_Addict



Series: When the Avengers Meet the Guardians [3]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Friendships, F/M, Fluff, Gamora and Peter are Sweet Little Beans, Gamora realizes Tony isn't bad, Gen, Making Up, Minor Gamora/Peter Quill, Starmora, Tony Stark-centric, just a little but it's there at the end, they fight robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 16:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16308788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Word_Addict/pseuds/Word_Addict
Summary: When she turns around, Gamora is looking at him the way Bruce looks at an experiment that gave him a different outcome than he expected. “You warned me,” she says.“Well, yeah,” Tony shrugs as best he can. “I mean, I can be a dick sometimes, but I’m not a total bastard.”in which: there's a battle and opinions change.





	In Which, Gamora and Tony Come to an Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> I know this series is happening slowly, and mostly it's just character-driven, but I hope to have some plot to put in here sooner or later. In the meantime, here's Gamora and Tony bonding a little, mostly on Gamora's end.
> 
> Warnings: canon-type violence, slight language from Tony.

The Mark IX suit can take corners like magic, but Tony’s a little too far gone at the moment to appreciate his own feat of mechanical genius, thanks to the robots that decided to attack the city on what was supposed to be a day off. “J,” he gasps out loud, “where are the power levels?”

“Power levels are at twenty percent,” the A.I. supplies. “Sir, may I suggest – “

“Sorry, J,” Tony cuts him off as the comm crackles to life. “Later.”

“Status reports,” Steve says crisply from where he’s standing below Tony in the epicenter of the disaster. The various Avengers chime in affirmatively, and Tony banks straight up the side of a building to give himself some breathing room before answering. “Power levels a little low, but I’m good.”

Hovering above the New York skyline, Tony takes a moment to assess the battle. Thor is calling down lightning in a ten-foot radius all around him to short out every baddie he can reach, Clint and Natasha are fighting back-to-back at street level – Tony makes a mental note to speed up the new arrow designs he’s been working on – and the Hulk is clearly enjoying himself as he grabs every robot he can find and smashes their heads together.

The only thing that gives Tony a warning is the faint buzzing rapidly approaching him. Suddenly, there’s a tangle of metal limbs colliding with him and he’s hurtling to the ground with more force than he would have thought possible.

Freeing one hand, he tries desperately to activate his thrusters with enough force to cut himself out, but twenty percent isn’t enough, so, he pushes back as hard as he can to avoid becoming a grease spot inside his suit.

His comm is going off like crazy, his teammates noticing the struggle in the sky. “Iron Man?” Cap asks, his tone sharp with panic, then, “Thor!”

There’s a flash and a clap of thunder and then there’s a bolt of lightning careening towards him. It does double-duty, shorting out the robot and sending his power levels skyrocketing, but his thrusters have been damaged and the best he can do is redirect his fall into more of a controlled descent.

“Sir, you need to reduce the angle of descent or the impact could be possibly fatal.” Jarvis is sounding as panicked as an A.I. can, and Tony tries to push back gravity as much as he can – he breaks the laws of science all the time, this shouldn’t be different.

Steve is still shouting at Thor over the comm, but Mjolnir isn’t returning fast enough from wherever the demigod threw it after he shocked the bot off Tony.

Tony’s almost resigned himself to his last few seconds of life when another figure shoots through the sky and grabs him by the arm. Whoever it is, isn’t doing a much better job of flying now that they’ve got him, but they both manage to land without too much damage, rolling head over heels onto the asphalt.

“Ow, shit,” Tony groans, getting up onto his hands and knees. “What was that?”

“Sorry,” a familiar voice apologizes, and then the mask dissolves on the person standing in front of him. “The Milano isn’t flying yet, so it’s just me and Gamora right now.”

Tony shakes his head, before pointing back in the direction Cap was standing. “Go help them,” he orders. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Star-Lord agrees, before turning and flying off.

Tony manages to sit, leaning against a nearby building. “J, status,” he asks.

“Power levels are holding at forty percent, internal stability three percent, damage to thrusters and overall suit integrity. I would advise against further action.”

“Right,” Tony agrees, checking over the outside of the suit. Thor’s lightning did a number on it, and the rough landing hasn’t helped anything, so Jarvis is probably right. This one’s going back to be used as scrap.

Still, he can hear fighting happening a few blocks away, and he still has some power left, even if he can’t fly, so he starts making his way back towards the battle.

Getting ambushed twice in one day is really excessive in his opinion, even for a superhero. Tony reaches up to the robotic arm around his neck that shouldn’t be a problem, except his suit is acting more like tin foil than titanium, and pulls at it ineffectively, trying to activate his thrusters.

His vision is starting to grey when there’s a _shink_ from behind the bot and it drops to the ground. Tony coughs for a long moment, taking in the sight of Gamora standing there with her sword.

“Thanks,” he says finally.

“You’re welcome,” she says cordially, and then it’s Tony’s turn to save her.

It’s not anything cool like a blast of energy over her shoulder or anything, just him pointing and shouting a warning, but it does give her time to turn around and neatly decapitate the robots.

When she turns around, Gamora is looking at him the way Bruce looks at an experiment that gave him a different outcome than he expected. “You warned me,” she says.

“Well, yeah,” Tony shrugs as best he can. “I mean, I can be a dick sometimes, but I’m not a total bastard.”

“What does your parents marriage have to do with – “ Gamora starts, but then there’s a minor explosion two streets over, and Tony’s comm is going crazy again.

“Come in, _come in, **status report**_!” Cap is shouting, and Tony’s pretty sure some of the panic in his voice is for him.

“All safe over here,” he says.

“Is Gamora with you?” Star-Lord yells, his voice distant.

“I’m here!” she shouts, suddenly right next to Tony. “No danger to report.”

“Good,” Natasha says from her line. “Thor just blew up the energy source.”

“Great,” Tony says, suddenly aware of just how tired he is. “Avengers assemble at my place tonight.”

-

Gamora corners him later, after the requisite pizza and debrief where they manage to finish off twenty-two pizzas with sides and close to eighteen liters of Coke.

“Stark,” she starts, looking as nervous as he’s ever seen her. “You saved me today.”

“Yeah?” Tony prompts, not sure where she’s going with this. “I mean, technically Thor ended the fight, so he saved all of us.”

“No,” she cuts him off. “You didn’t have to alert me to danger, but you did. You have saved my life, Tony Stark.”

It strikes Tony that this is the first time she’s used his first name, so he stays quiet and lets her finish.

Gamora takes a deep breath and stares at him like she’s trying to look _through_ him, and it’s a little uncomfortable, but not nearly as shocking as what she says next. “You are a good man,” she says in a quiet voice, and then, while Tony’s still trying to process her statement, she disappears.

“Jarvis,” he says finally, “save file.”

"Yes, sir," the A.I. says, and Tony swears Jarvis is laughing at him

-

“Should I be jealous?” Peter asks later, in his quarters on the Milano. He runs a hand through her hair from where they’re lying in a pose he calls ‘spooning’.

“Please,” Gamora scoffs, turning over so they’re face to face. “You know that isn't true, even if you are an idiot.”

“Yeah, but I’m your idiot,” Peter laughs, pressing a small kiss to her cheekbone. He's silent for a minute, running his thumb down the side of her face, before speaking again. “You know, most people on Earth aren’t out for your blood.”

Gamora doesn’t deny it, but later, after Peter’s fallen asleep, she lies awake and thinks. She thinks about kindness and goodness and how they aren’t mutually exclusive, but sometimes they are. She thinks about Nebula, and how her sister’s goodness is often masked by anger and jealousy and harsher things, and about how crass words and trickery might also be a mask.

She falls asleep certain of her judgement. Tony Stark is a good man.


End file.
